Jobless Claims, Earnings Flops, and the GDP: Market Recap

Bolstered by an upward revision in third-quarter GDP growth, now estimated at 2.7 percent, the U.S. equity markets closed up again on Wall Street:

Dow:+0.28%, S&P 500:+0.43%, Nasdaq:+0.68%.

On the commodities front, Oil (NYSE:USO) climbed 1.55 percent to $87.83 per barrel. Precious metals were also up, with Gold (NYSE:GLD) climbing 0.55 percent to $1,728.20 per ounce, and Silver (NYSE:SLV) climbing 1.69 percent to $34.24 per ounce about 5 minutes after the bell.

Here’s your Cheat Sheet to today’s top stock stories:

A Swing and a Miss: Shares of jewelry manufacturer and retailer Tiffany & Co. (NYSE:TIF) closed down 6.17 percent after third-quarter results miss the mark. Revenue grew 4 percent year over year but net income dropped 30 percent. Shares of Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE:KSS) were also off and closed down 11.98 percent after posting a 4.9-percent drop in November sales. (Read more.)

Mixed Jobless Claims: Initial jobless claims dropped 5.5 percent for the week ended November 24 compared to the previous week, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. However, the four-week moving average grew 1.9 percent. The current unemployment rate in the U.S. is 7.9 percent.

Bad News for the Housing Recovery? While the housing market has been a relatively strong point this year, data released Thursday morning by the U.S. Commerce Department indicated that this trend may be over, or at least on pause. Overall, new single-family home sales fell 0.3 percent in the month of October… (Read more.)

The Fed and the Fiscal Cliff: After the Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday that the U.S. economy grew at a “measured pace” in recent weeks, Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher pressed the government to give businesses more incentives to use the central bank’s liquidity to create jobs… (Read more.)